Re: nitrogen fixing bacteria / soil tea

From: Elaine Ingham (Soilfoodweb@AOL.COM)
Date: Thu Jan 16 2003 - 12:13:20 EST


EM has two fungal species. A yeast (well, maybe two yeasts actually. And
yes, yeasts are fungi) and Aspergillus oryzi. Neither are outstanding soil
citizens.

BUT, some of the products made by anaerobic fermentative bacteria certainly
do help form microaggregates. So, there is clearly benefit from getting some
bacteria, ANY bacteria, established in a really sick soil. Making the glue
to form microaggregates is a critical first step.

But, does this inoculum get you all the way to where you have to go to grow
healthy plants? NO.

And certainly NOT the diversity one needs.

Please, get the concept of the WHOLE foodweb firmly in your mind. Move
beyond this limitation that somehow bacteria are the only microbes.

We need bacteria, AND fungi AND protozoa AND beneficial nematodes AND herds
of microarthropods.

Dr. Andrew Moldenke has documented that there should be 200,000
microarthropods in a healthy grassland soil. When you dig up your front
lawn, it isn't truly healthy until you have a community of microarthropods
that you can find when you pull up a shovel of soil. What do these guys eat?
 Fungi.

No springtails? Lacking earthworms? Better work your way down the foodweb
until you start building at the right place. If the soil is really bad off,
adding fermentative bacteria can really help. But don't get stuck there.
You then have to build beneficial aerobic bacteria, then fungi, then
protozoa, then.... yep, the whole foodweb.

If you add EM, and you see a noticeable improvement, what does that tell you
about the health of your soil? It was really bad off. If you add EM, and
you don't see a benefit, what does that tell you? That your soil was
healthier than that first half-step.

It's the twelve-step program to get people off pesticides. Join
pesticides-anonymous now. :-)

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com


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